Young Writers Society

Information comes from Writersblock.com. See Clau's link!

Here's the history!!!!
A couple of decades ago, no writer for the general public would dream of addressing the reader directly by using the second person. The approach would have been considered much too forward.
More fun stuff!!!!!
In recent years, the prohibition on directly addressing the reader has turned 180 degrees. The turnaround has been effected chiefly by the need, in technical writing, to convey procedural information in a conversational style (rather than by using the imperative mood, which is not always appropriate) and by the need to avoid the style and gender-bias issues raised by the third person singular. Addressing the reader as "you" is accepted as the preferable style in most material of this sort.
WARNING!!!!!
Notice that, if used once unnecessarily, "your" begs to be repeated thereafter. The resulting repetition gives a text a kindergarten feel. ("Now, you are going to take your knapsack and hang it in your cubby...." Get the picture?)
=D
So, don't be afraid to talk to your readers—but try not to patronize them!

Hehe, I've tried to write a story in 2nd person, but it ended up terrible, so after looking it up, I thought, "Hey, why not post it here? Maybe other people are having problems with it too!"
And so.... Voila!!!

Merci pour ton temps!
-JC

Tes Temps, Since there are more than one of us, Oui? Or even Vos, if you wished to be truly formal!

Second person is something I'd love to try my hand at, and I've even got a short story plot I've been thinking on that I think would roll together nicely like this if I could actually write it. But, you have to be inherently good at it, and have intention. You can't just say, "I want to write in second person!" You need a reason. Usually this reason would be to draw your reader in, to make them feel more, to put them right in the hot seat. And even in third person we do this, but if done right second person does it even more. I'd say the one book every writer and, for that matter, every writer attempting to write second person, should read is Italo Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.

The book was amazing, and the second person was natural and felt right. Plus, the way he did it was amazing. I've also read some really, really bad books in second person. And when you do, it's not cool. You want to stab your eyes and cry, because it's horrible.

I wish you luck if you plan on writing in second person

And can't find any good articles on writing in second person, though I did find the one you quoted from. The Second Person. Make sure you tell us where you get your information! you just said web site, but now I've given the link.

Oops, yeah, forgot the link. *blushes*

(and about the ton temps, I used it because I was talking to the reader directly at the time of the reading. Also, I would use the formal vos, except that I consider you all to be friends...so the result is ton temps. But I suppose it works either way, depending on the intention =D)

Hmmm...I've never read it, but your praise makes me curious, I'll check it out!

Merci pour ton/vos/tes temps =D
-JC

I always associate the second person with those "Give Yourself Gosebumps" books. Not sure that I'd ever try to write in second, I think it would be too patronizing.

I wrote a story for an assignment in second person. I don't know how it turned out because it was my first try and my teacher hasn't given it back to me. Fortuneately my SOSE teacher also teaches English, so she'll be able to tell me what I did wrong, if anything.

So second person is like your talking to the audience? I've wondered this for like EVER and nobody at my school knows not even the teachers.

JCobsesed wrote:Here's the history!!!!
A couple of decades ago, no writer for the general public would dream of addressing the reader directly by using the second person. The approach would have been considered much too forward.
More fun stuff!!!!!
In recent years, the prohibition on directly addressing the reader has turned 180 degrees. The turnaround has been effected chiefly by the need, in technical writing, to convey procedural information in a conversational style (rather than by using the imperative mood, which is not always appropriate) and by the need to avoid the style and gender-bias issues raised by the third person singular. Addressing the reader as "you" is accepted as the preferable style in most material of this sort.
WARNING!!!!!
Notice that, if used once unnecessarily, "your" begs to be repeated thereafter. The resulting repetition gives a text a kindergarten feel. ("Now, you are going to take your knapsack and hang it in your cubby...." Get the picture?)
=D
So, don't be afraid to talk to your readers—but try not to patronize them!

Hehe, I've tried to write a story in 2nd person, but it ended up terrible, so after looking it up, I thought, "Hey, why not post it here? Maybe other people are having problems with it too!"
And so.... Voila!!!

Merci pour ton temps!
-JC

Wait... did you quote this? Remember, cite your sources! Otherwise, this is plagiarism and that's bad.

With that said, I think that talking about "you" in the conversational sense is still talking in first person because I, the narrator, am referring to you. True second person, I think, is different, because it has no mention of "I."

Personally, I think second person is dangerous. I have a phobia of getting caught up in all the "you"'s, and if not, I'm afraid I'll give up on everything and just write it in the "regular" form or fashion, aka 3 or 1 person.

Yeah, not very many know about second person. I was, like, "O.O Well, if there's a first and third person, who's in the middle?" Hehe.

If you want to familiarize yourself with second person, go check out a bunch of the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books.

Those things are incredible. <3

Prokaryote

Haha. Oh, yeah! I remember those. I always hated how i turned out. >.<

hehe. Snoink, it was mixed up a bit, but yeah, mostly I read it once over to make sure I was right and posted something here. So a lot's just the same cuz of memory...

Interested in POV, I see.

Go here: viewtopic.php?t=13592

I double dog dare ya!

Cal.

My sister and I wrote our last novel in a mixture of second and third person. We had certain sections which we called key points where we addressed the reader directly and I think it was very effective.

Second person can be difficult to pull off, but is always interesting when done well.